NOURISH … with orange spiced energy bites

These bites were originally meant for after school but running late to school after hibernating at home for a couple of snow days, they quickly became the perfect “eat in the car breakfast, because we are beyond late!” After school I like to include a snack that is packed with protein to curb that afternoon grumpiness in my boys. They’re not fans of too many whole nuts at a time so crushing them into a nut meal seems to work really well and blended with the banana, raw cacao, spices, and orange, it’s closer to a treat than a snack. This is a great one for the kids to help with and they can be stored in the refrigerator to pop out at snack time and maybe even those super rushed mornings.

cooking note … if you would like to use a blend of nuts and pulse them in a food processor, this works well too. I find almond meal and cashew at Trader Joes.

DIRECTIONS

If you are making your own meal from nuts just crush them in a processor or a blender until ground, but not into a butter. For the almond butter, you can certainly just make your own while you are already blending nuts.

Place the nut meal, asian five spice or cinnamon, and the cacao powder in a large bowl. Mash the banana on a plate and then add in the honey and almond butter. Add this mixture to the nut meal mixture. Mix in the salt and the orange juice or extract. Mix this all together with a wooden spoon. Let this cool in the refrigerator for an hour and then roll into 1″ round bites. Freeze the bites for 30 minutes and then roll them in coconut (you could also roll them in chopped nuts instead of the coconut).